


Raison d'être

by sunsetskiesandstarrynights



Category: Miraculous Ladybug
Genre: F/M, Family Fluff, Father-Son Relationship, Gabriel Is Not Hawkmoth, Gabriel is not a terrible parent, Gen, agreste family, father-son bonding
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-01-21
Updated: 2018-01-21
Packaged: 2019-03-07 16:27:16
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 2,192
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13438704
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sunsetskiesandstarrynights/pseuds/sunsetskiesandstarrynights
Summary: Because no matter what would happen, it was Gabriel and Adrien against the world. Because Adrien was Gabriel's raison d'être.In which, during times of trouble and sorrow, father and son come closer together and lean on each other to make it through and become stronger because of it. Because family is the most important thing of all; something to live for, something to fight for. Family, friends and love.A series of non-sequential one-shots (some AUs) where the bond between Gabriel and Adrien does not break after Mrs. Agreste goes missing but strengthens.





	1. Eternal Promise

**Author's Note:**

> Disclaimer: I take ownership of the plot and ideas but no ownership of the characters (except for Aurelie) as they all come from the genius mind of Thomas Astruc. I just wanted to create an alternate world within his world where Adrien and Gabriel found the happiness and family they needed- in each other.

Gabriel couldn't believe the events of the last 24 hours.

24 hours ago, he had his wife in his arms and had kissed her, promising to pick Adrien up on the way home.

24 hours ago, they were planning their 20th wedding anniversary trip to Italy where they would visit Cinque Terre and Tuscany, bringing along Adrien to show him where he had proposed and all of their favorite spots.

24 hours ago, he and Adrien were planning a surprise birthday party for his wife in which they would have a 2 tiered (Adrien's idea) ice-cream cake (her favorite) decorated with lemon macaroons (his idea). They would have a day just for the three of them and Adrien was super excited especially considering it was going to be the first _surprise_ party he had ever planned.

Now, she was _gone_. Vanished. All there was left was a travel booklet to Tibet that was lying on her bedside table but other than that, nothing. He had several private eyes and the police on this case, trying to find his beloved but with no real leads so far. 

He returned home from the police office with heavy eyes and a heavier heart.

He opened the door and was greeted with a blonde blur wearing emerald green pajamas crashing into him.

"Papa, where is Maman?? Is she okay? When is she coming home?"

" _Mon fils_ , Maman is missing. There are lots of people trying to look for her and find her but nobody knows where she is. I pray that she is okay and that she will come home to us soon."

Adrien's big green eyes (so much like _hers_ ) filled with tears and Gabriel pulled his son closer to him and gently cupped his face in his hands, using his thumbs to brush away the tears.

"Adrien, we will never give up hope that she will return to us. We will carry with her _always_ in our hearts. But, _mon ange_ , I promise you that I am not going _anywhere_. I will _always_ be here for you, you will never be alone, it will be us against the world, okay? Because you are my _raison d'être_ and I love you with all of my heart and so does Maman. _Never_ forget that."

" _Promettre?_ "

" _Oui. Pour toujours"_

_"Je t'aime, Papa"_

_"Je t'aime aussi Adrien."_

Gabriel could feel the tears running down his face as he looked down at his son, his _beautiful_ son, the only physical part of Celeste he had left.

He would do everything he could for his son so that _when_ his wife came back to them, she was received into a household brimming with love.

Because he would protect his _raison d'être_ until his other one returned safely into his arms (and then they could protect their  _raison d'être_ together).

Adrien had fallen asleep in his arms and so he carried him up the stairs to their bedroom (because he didn't think that either of them wanted to be alone tonight).

He fell asleep for the first time since she had disappeared, looking at their son and making an eternal promise to himself to love his son for the both of them until the missing part of their trio returned.


	2. Operation Cure

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Gabriel is a very, very stubborn sick blonde raccoon. His family isn't here for it. So OPERATION CURE commences.

Those who knew of Gabriel Agreste, world renowned fashion designer, viewed him as a passionately determined artist with his craft ( a feat that allowed him to rise in the world of fashion to become globally known).

Those who knew Gabriel Agreste knew that the passionate determination hid a great deal of stubbornness.

Those particularly close to him knew that Gabriel Agreste had a particularly high amount of stubbornness when it came to health matters.

The one and only Gabriel Agreste did not believe in sickness relating to himself (he doted on Adrien and worried constantly when Adrien was ill but for himself, the possibility of sickness just did not exist as the world of fashion did not _wait_ for the common cold).

In a feat of stubbornness, whenever he would be ill he would simply work through it (no matter how ill he was). And it was getting to the point of ridiculousness.

For the great and powerful Gabriel Agreste had contracted **tonsillitis**.

Part of the recommended treatment was medication and the other part was rest.

Both of these elements proved to be challenging but Adrien, Nathalie and Grigoire (fondly called the Gorilla) were determined to make Gabriel Agreste take care of himself.

Gabriel Agreste _hated_ medications- not only for the lack of knowledge of what exactly he was taking but the darn side effects.

He hated feeling hopeless.

Nathalie though managed to sneak the medication into his daily cup of tea and so he was taking his medication without even realizing it.

The bigger issue was the _rest_ aspect.

The Agreste family had a strong work ethic (shared by both father and son) and believed in working hard to get what they wanted. Relaxation was a reward and, when needed, time for yourself. It also didn’t help that Paris Fashion Week was less than three weeks ahead.

This meant that Gabriel would stop at nothing to perfect his collection (although, in Adrien’s opinion, his collection looked amazing already).

All three of them had tried luring Gabriel away from his studio and his army of mannequins to his bed to no avail.

So, it was time to bring in the _big guns_.

Little known fact about Gabriel Agreste was that Gabriel Agreste had a twin sister.

Aurélie Agreste looked similar to her brother with slightly lighter eyes and platinum blonde hair but quite a bit shorter than her brother (Gabriel often referred to her as a  _pixie_ in which she retaliated with  _tall, blonde beanstalk)_ However, what she lacked in height, she made up in personality.

She was a _force of nature_.

A globe trotting architect & interior designer, Aurélie tried to go back to Paris whenever she could and she and Gabriel were very close.

If anybody could talk him into taking care of himself, it would be _her_.

Adrien FaceTimed his aunt and filled her in on the situation.

Her eyes turned alight with stormy blue fury as she asked her nephew to hand the phone over to her hardheaded, stubborn twin.

“ **Riel** ”

“Hello to you too **Auri** ”

“Don’t you _dare_ Auri me you _pigheaded lunatic_!!! Why on _Earth_ are you not in bed, sleeping for the next week?!!”

“Because twin dear, there is a little tiny major event called Paris Fashion Week just around the corner and I need to be prepared. Plus, I am fine! It is just a little illness, it will pass.”

“ _It will pass_?!!! Gabriel you _idiot_ , you have **_TONSILLITIS_**. It will not pass if you do not put your _lord forsaken pencil_ down, step away from the _accursed mannequin_ and put your head on those pillows I got you last Christmas from Switzerland. You are not fine. I recall having a human as a twin and not some _overly tall blonde raccoon_. Your designs are _beautiful_ \- I think so, Adrien thinks so, Nathalie thinks so and even Grigoire thinks so and _we are the only people who matter_.”

“But I need to——“

“Riel don’t you dare finish that sentence. None of us give a damn overall about your fashion line - **we care about you** , you dimwitted peacock. We love the human, not the clothes. We want you up and healthy and that means getting a good nights rest. Gabriel Agreste, you need to take care of yourself. **You are all Adrien has left in the world** , **you and Adrien are all I have left in the world. We cannot lose you** , got that twinnie? Do it for us. So I want your head to start moving in the direction of your room so you can fall asleep this century.”

“ _Pestering, stubborn, bossy twin sisters_ ” Gabriel muttered but followed her orders, sleepily making his way back into his room.

He stopped first when he saw Adrien, going over to give him a hug and a kiss on the forehead.

“Bon soir Papa. _**Je t’aime**_.”

“ ** _J t'aime aussi Adrien_** ” Gabriel replied holding back a yawn.

He then continued on to his room, collapsing on his bed.

“Could you sing the—“

“Lullaby Grand-mère used to sing to us? _Yes_. Take off your glasses Riel and change into the sweatpants Adrien got you for Christmas that you secretly adore.”

And so Gabriel Agreste finally fell asleep to the calming melody of his sister’s voice.

And woke up, fifteen hours later feeling _considerably_ better with Adrien at his bedside to share breakfast in bed together.

Mission _accomplished_.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: Round of applause for pestering, stubborn, bossy twin sisters and everybody who cares about you getting better.


	3. Artistic Therapy

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which Gabriel and Adrien miss Celeste dearly and so Aurélie suggests the medium of oil and canvas to express their love for her.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> How the Woman in Gold painting came to be. The other painting does NOT exist (it shall be forever ignored).

It had been _months_.

Months without any word on where his wife was.

Slowly, all the pictures of his darling were losing the life that she had.

Celeste was a burst of light, of life. She naturally light up any room she walked into.

Adrien had that same ability.

That light though that she had was slowly fading from her pictures, from the clothes she had left in her closet, from her side of the bed.

Gabriel couldn't have that.

One conversation with Aurélie later and that is how Adrien found him that afternoon, in a simple duck egg blue button down shirt with the sleeves rolled up, drawing on an incredibly large canvas with jars of paintbrushes and cans of different colors of paint on his table.

He was not a fashion designer for nothing, he _knew_ how to draw.

"Papa?"

" _Bon soir_ Adrien"

"What are you doing?"

"I miss Maman Adrien and so I thought I could find some way to always have her with us. Her favorite painter is Gustav Klimt and I thought" Gabriel said waving his arms around to convey something he suddenly couldn't find the words of.

"You are going to _paint_ her" Adrien breathed.

" _Oui_. Do you like it?" Gabriel asked, suddenly nervous.

Adrien was besides Gabriel in a second, hugging his body with a beaming smile on his face, " I _love_ it! And Maman would love it too!"

"Thank you Adrien" Gabriel said. He stepped away from the canvas and over to his desk where he had several metal trays of drawing pencils (the best of the best of course).

He picked up an appropriate one and held it out to Adrien,

"Do you want to help?"

Adrien looked at him with wide eyes,

" _Pour de vrai?"_

_"Oui."_

"I want you to be a part of it Adrien. I want to do this with you. It is for her from the both of us. I cannot complete this without you _mon fils_."

" _Bien sûr! Bien sûr!!!_ "

And so it began.

It was the pair's afternoon project and each would make time for it (Gabriel would clear his schedule and Adrien would rush home from school with a smile on his face).

It brought them closer together as they worked on this piece of art that would bring their missing piece a little bit more back into their lives.

Adrien marveled at how _good_ his father was at art and how he had never really noticed and Gabriel verbally expressed his pride at Adrien's work and took the time to listen to his input and explain his decisions.

"Ah, the peacock eyes. Your mother was very fond of peacocks because she said they reminded her of me- integrity, nobility, guidance, protection, watchfulness, patience, kindness and luck. She always wore a bracelet that I made for her with a peacock's eye on it so that she could always have me with her"

"Stars for all of the times we would go stargazing Papa and you would each tell me completely different stories for the constellations and sometimes we would make them up. Can we do that again?"

"Oui. How about this weekend we visit the observatory? And then when we have a couple more days we can go out to the Alps, to the _Pic du Midi_."

"Let's do it!"

"Why so much green Papa?"

"Because it is the color of Maman's eyes and of your eyes and so it is my favorite color"

Nathalie would often find themselves curled up on the couch, fingers stained black with charcoal or covered in gold paint, with gold paint flecks in their hair (giving the appearance of angels) or on their cheeks.

Nathalie would merely smile and cover them with a blanket.

This was _good_ for them.

And when it was finally done a couple months later, beaming like a ray of gold from behind Gabriel's desk, they stood and looked at it, smiling at what they have created.

"Adrien, this painting is beautiful because we put our _love_ into this painting. But I do not need this painting to remind me of Maman and my love for her because I have _you_. You have her heart and her eyes and whenever I look at you I see my love for you and my love for her. She is never truly far from me or from you. Never forget this."

And as he held his son in his arms, the pain in his heart faded a little more.


End file.
